Harry Gibson on August 24, 2024 No Comments
Modern vehicles have more features designed to prevent car accidents. New ones seemingly come out every year. Some prove more useful than others, but many catch on. They become standardized, just like lap band seatbelts and ones with shoulder harnesses decades before.
The police do their part as well, setting up checkpoints in major cities. You might grumble when you have to go through one, but you should feel glad it’s there. Houston saw 2,355 DUI accidents in 2022, and you will see similar stats in most major cities.
When you don’t have the police keeping the roads safe for you, then you must fall back on your car’s safety features. Let’s talk about five of the ones that prevent the most accidents. You should look for these the next time you shop for a new or used car.
Blind Spot Alert Systems
Many vehicles coming out these days have integrated blind spot alert systems. If you’re an experienced driver, you probably know all about your vehicle’s blind spot. It’s directly to your left, around the vehicle’s midpoint. You can’t see a car in that spot if you look in the rearview mirror, nor if you look in the side view mirrors on either the car’s left or right.
That’s why you must check your blind spot before signaling and moving into the left lane. If you have a car driving very slowly ahead of you, and you want to pass it, you can safely do so by glancing at your blind spot before moving out of your lane and into the one beside you.
However, some drivers might forget to check that blind spot from time to time. Maybe you’re just in a hurry, and you don’t bother to glance over. You don’t realize that a vehicle crept up on your left-hand side while you didn’t see it.
That can cause a sideswipe collision. Those don’t cause as many serious injuries or deaths as rollover accidents or head-to-head collisions, but you can still damage both your vehicle and the one beside you.
A blind spot alert system sounds an auditory warning if there’s a vehicle or large object in your car’s blind spot. It can warn you about a cyclist or pedestrian there as well as a vehicle.
Some cars don’t sound a warning. Instead, a red light appears in your side view mirror. Either way, when you hear that noise or see the red light in your peripheral vision, you’ll know there’s a car in your blind spot, and you can’t switch lanes till it outdistances you or you pull far enough ahead of it.
Rear Backup Cameras
All cars must now have rear backup cameras. The government implemented that policy several years ago, and it’s great that it did. Rear backup cameras automatically activate when you put the vehicle in reverse. They show you what’s behind your car on the touchscreen that comes with most modern vehicles.
When you can see what’s behind you when you’re backing up, you can wait till another car, cyclist, pedestrian, or even a family dog gets out of the way. You can also see objects like fallen tree limbs, a child’s tricycle, etc. You can wait till the person, vehicle, or animal gets out of your way, or you can get out of the car and move the object before backing up.
Lane Departure Alert Systems
Some modern cars also come with lane departure alert systems. These sound auditory alarms that let you know if you’re drifting out of your lane without signaling. If you put on a turn signal, indicating that you’re changing lanes, that prevents this alert from sounding.
These systems work by sending nearly instantaneous information from cameras under the car that let the vehicle know if you’re leaving the lane that you’re in without signaling. If you nod off at the wheel or you let something distract you, the alert lets you know you’re leaving the lane without warning the other drivers around you. This keeps both you and them safe.
Automatic Braking
Automatic braking, also sometimes called automatic forward collision detection, also comes with many high-end modern cars. Some of these systems sound an alert when a car brakes in front of you suddenly or the vehicle detects a wall or some other large object ahead of you.
Others don’t sound a warning. Either way, the car takes control from you and slams on the brakes so that you don’t hit the vehicle, wall, cyclist, or anything else ahead.
This sometimes prevents accidents if there’s a sudden change in a traffic pattern. If a deer runs across the road, for instance, causing a car ahead of you to stop suddenly, maybe you won’t have the reaction time to avoid a collision if you’re following very close behind that vehicle.
You shouldn’t tailgate since that’s dangerous. If you’re doing it, though, automatic braking can prevent a crash if the vehicle senses you can’t slam down on the brakes in time on your own due to the car’s current rate of speed.
Auditory Backup Object Warning Systems
If you put the car in reverse, that triggers the rear backup camera. It automatically comes on, showing you what’s behind you. However, what about if a car drives past you suddenly? Maybe you can’t see it coming, especially if you have vehicles on either side when you’re in a parking lot.
You might hit the vehicle driving past behind you if you don’t see it coming out of the corner of your eye. That’s when the auditory backup object warning system comes into play.
It sounds an auditory alert that lets you know you need to stop backing up immediately. This prevents many accidents that could happen if you don’t see a car coming and you’re accelerating out of a parking space going too fast with the car in reverse.
All of these safety features work wonders in modern cars.
